Spirit Air Buyer Beware

Attempted to book a sale on Spiritair.com yesterday. No confirmation received so I called. They said it didnt go through but they didnt charge me. On my credit card they sure did. Not very nice to deal with and just said there was nothing they could do even though I had the printout with the charges very clear. I had to file a Dispute with the card company which can take up to 45 days..Spiritair is saying the charge will just drop off my card after 24 hours...still waiting...and I have also lost out on the deal that expired at midnight..

Bummer, I wish and hope they get thier act together.

Good luck and take care Juls.

Refund made but price is up $80 to rebook the same itinerary...grrr...

I have nothing but bad things to say about this airline.....

I never fly them anymore and I wouldn't no matter how good the deal.

Beware though, if you do, that:
a) they charge for EVERYTHING so that good deal may not be so good after all is said and done
b) if you have connecting flights check your layover time....ESPECIALLY if you have to go through customs....they like to either give you 8 hour layovers (when you don't need them) or only 30 minutes (and 30 minutes is NOT enough time to get through customs, security and back to the gate in time...and they will NOT wait for you....they don't care if they leave you)
c) if anything goes wrong....they don't care....and if you call "Customer Service" and were able to get someone on the phone who doesnt hang up on you or treat you rudely then you are way ahead of most


If JetBlue is an option....or even AirTran, I would highly recommend those instead, even at a higher rate...you won't be sorry with either of these airlines
Just my $0.02
:)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by marley9808

I have nothing but bad things to say about this airline.....
I never fly them anymore and I wouldn't no matter how good the deal.

If JetBlue is an option....or even AirTran, I would highly recommend those instead, even at a higher rate...you won't be sorry with either of these airlines
Just my $0.02
:)

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mi concur........now they absolutely stink.......ever since that new CEO took over in 2006

the last time I flew them....it took them 3 times to land in a rainstorm in Tampa....it was like a roller-coaster
but what do you expect when Spirit has their pilots on the lowest wage scale in the industry.......
now they nickel and dime you to death.........so it ends up being an expensive way to travel......
and the Reps that work those counters are just nasty.......seen too many fights at those Spirit counters....
sure they might be making some money now......but at the travelers expense........

Spirit website is not user friendly at all.....it really stinks with all the chit they have on it
plus they have that stupid pick a resort thingy now before you can book a flight....

this poor reputation will eventually come back to bite dem in da ass down the road.....
just mi two cents too......

when they first started up they were great.....cheap airfare and good schedules........not anymore

and yes AirTran and JetBlue is the way to go for this guy........no Spirit for this guy......ever

Cool Runnings, Marko

Couldn't agree more Marko!

I flew them several times prior to 2006 and thought it was the best thing around $1 flights and what not, I was in heaven....then got burned a couple of times, they cancel flights without telling you and just assign you to a new day and time....uhm, you might want to tell someone when you do that....had to call and change hotel reservations, etc.
But the last time was the final straw and that is when I said I will never fly with them again!
And YES! everyone I have dealt with in that company has been nasty....and I understand if they are overworked underpaid, been there done that, but don't take it out on the paying customers....who are probably overworked and underpayed as well and saved long and hard to enjoy their vacation!

But with JetBlue direct from Orlando at such a great price.....I don't even worry about that crappy little airline anymore...they are "Dead to me" lol

Ever hear the saying "If its too good to be true it probably is?" Well - if it walks like a duck....

Those $9 fares were all the rage weren't they. Add taxes - now it's a $209 fare. Wanna reserve a seat? It'll cost $20 for an aisle, $15 for a window, $5 for a middle. Checking bags? $25 or $35 each.

So...your $9 fare is now around $264 if you go for an aisle seat. Oh - but you can't get a $9 fare on your return flight! Oh no...THAT fare is $250.00. You are now paying the same or more as you would on a more major carrier that doesn't charge for a seat AND might even let you check your first bag for free because you are flying internationally.

I've flown them and their schedules do suck. But I was lucky....the planes were comfy, and I didn't experience any delays when I flew them (once) to and from Jamaica. The 6 hour delay in Detroit was a bit of a bummer when I flew them to NY once...but our entire plane made friends and they kept the bar open in the airport for us.

When researching fares make sure you dive much deeper into the actual fare - does the airline charge for seat assignments? What is their baggage policies and costs? I do this enough to know that

IF ITS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE IT PROBABLY IS.

they are copying Ryanair and beware the latest ryanair "good idea" is to remove toilets leaving only one per plane, but giving extra seats, oh and did i mention you have to pay to use that remaining toilet

My Spirit flight out of Mobay was delayed and I was going to miss my connection, Spirits solution....come back three days from now, oh and you're on your own for accommodations. I eventually did fly out on a "special" Spirit flight the next day only to miss my connection and remain in Fort Lauderdale for yet another night. I have to say once I made it back to the states the Spirit reps were helpful in trying to get me home. After much communication and sending a complaint to everyone but President Obama I got a full refund and a $100 voucher, but trust me after I use this voucher for a ONE WAY TICKET I will NEVER fly them again.

I flew round trip on Spirit from ORD to MBJ once. With that one and only round trip, I became a member of the "Spirit Airlines NEVER AGAIN club".

I was warned before I flew with Spriit but, I did not take the warning seriously. After all, could it be that bad? Yup, it could be that bad.

What happened, max2?

Well, here goes. It is such a comedy of errors that I hope I can remember all of them.

From ORD, we flew to Fort Lauderdale and then on to MoBay without any problem.

The return trip errors begin about two months before our travel. I received a call from Spirit informing me that our flight time was changed and that we were on a flight that was called a direct flight. The agent on the phone explained that we were to fly from MoBay to Fort Lauderdale and on to ORD. The plane would land in FL but, we would not get off of the plane. We would not go through customs until ORD. I was sent an email saying that I was on flight #436, MBJ to ORD and the times. The email did not even mention Fort Lauderdale.

A few days later, I was thinking about what the Spirit agent on the phone had told me and I thought, maybe, I had misunderstood what the agent said. Customs is always the first entry into the country. So, I called Spirit and asked about our flight. Once again I was told the same thing the first agent had said.

Fast forward to leaving from MoBay. At the ticket counter in MoBay, when I checked in I was given one boarding pass that said I was leaving MoBay and my destination was ORD. I questioned the agent about only one boarding pass. I asked if I should not have a boarding pass from MBJ to Fort Lauderdale and one from Fort Lauderdale to ORD. The agent in MoBay told me I needed only one instead of one to Fort Lauderdale and one from there to ORD because I would not be leaving the plane in Fort Lauderdale.

As were were preparing for landing in Fort Lauderdale, I asked a flight attendant about what I was to do when others were deboarding. Should I just stay in my seat? I was told by this flight attendant that I had to go through customs in Fort Lauderdale. My husband questions him about this and told him what we had been told by three Spirit agents. The flight attendant got on the overhead speakers and announced that everyone must deboard the plane and go through customs.

We should have had one hour and eight minutes to do this. However, our plane was one half hour late leaving MoBay. When we got to customs in Fort Lauderdale there was such a line that we weren't even the room with the customs agents before the line began. We got through this part, got our luggage and ran to check it again. The final call was being called for our flight. Running, we got to the TSA Xray and a TSA agent was calling for all flight #436 people. We shouted that we were #436. The agent called us ahead of everyone and with a walkie talkie radioed to the plane that we were on our way. Of course, at this point we were asked for our boarding passes. We showed the stub from our first boarding. I knew, of course, we didn't stand a chance that it would work and it didn't. We were told to go to the Spirit checkin, which was just a short few steps away and get a boarding pass. We were told that the plane would wait because the pass would only take a minute to get if we told Spirit agents at checkin the we were sent by TSA.

As soon as we got to the checkin counter we flagged an agent and told the agent our situation about TSA sending us and the plane was waiting. I really, really, really had to get a grip on my temper when this agent asked us, "Why did you get off the plane? You were supposed to stay on the plane." Bottom line at this counter no one would help us. We were told to stay in line because others had been waiting a long time and our turn would come.

Needless to say, the plane left without us and without many others that were in the same situation. We didn't know where our luggage was. We were put on standby for a flight that left six and one half hours later. We were given confirmed tickets for the same flight we missed for the next day. We were very fortunate. Some people on our plane did not get confirmed flights until Wednesday (All of this was happening on Sunday.) and Spirit would not do one thing for anyone. We were not given food vouchers. No one was given a hotel room. Many people were asking for supervisors and it seemed to me that those that did ask for a supervisor were treated worse than those of us that just went with the flow.

Since we were the first two people on standby for the flight that was to leave six hours later we made that flight. Of course, the flight was one and one half hours late leaving. But, we did better than all the rest of the people flying on Spirit from MoBay going to ORD that day.


We asked how to find out luggage when we were getting our standby status and our confirmed flight. Spirit in Fort Lauderdale told us that our luggage went to Chicago on the first flight that we missed. How was that possible I asked. It was possible was the reply. When we got to Chicago, we went from pillar to post looking for someone from Spirit to tell us where our luggage was. But, we couldn't get an answer. We finally gave up and decided to deal with where our luggage was the next day. At that very second, my husband looked at the carousel with the luggage from the plane we had just deboarded and our luggage was on that carousel. So, as of this minute, I can not figure out where our luggage was all of that time. Of course, our luggage was important because we did not know if we had to spend the night in Fort Luaderdale and it would be nice to have some things for the stay.

Spirit is a case of one hand not knowing what the other hand is doing, in my opinion.


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